Botanical Print Eco-Dress with Mulberry Bayswater Bag and Sandals

Hasn’t it been glorious these last few days? Finally, finally, we’ve had some hot weather here in the UK with wall to wall sunshine (plus the odd clap of thunder), and I absolutely love it. Around the house and in the garden, I’ve been wearing shorts with sleeveless, loose tops, but we’re not used to it and it can be hard to know what to wear for work, meetings and appointments in hot weather.

To me, a dress is the obvious choice- loose fitting but with some structure. For such occasions, I’m more comfortable when my shoulders and chest are covered. These also happen to be my most sun-sensitive areas and despite being incredibly vigilant with high SPF suncream, they often still go a little pink. I actually find this happens more when there are straps and necklines involved as they tend to rub it off, rather than when sitting on a beach in a bikini where I can spray over and over without fear of ruining clothes and without missing bits. Covering these areas gives me one less thing to worry about when out and about.

Choosing a natural fibre helps too of course. This dress is composed of Tencel, a fibre about which I wrote in my post about eco-fashion last month, (which was very well received and is currently the most read post of the month). It’s by eco-brand Braintree but is from an independent shop here in Skipton. The botanical print did more than catch my eye, it positively hit me in the face. The colours, the flowers, the works. Tencel is lightweight with beautiful draping properties and remains almost crumple free and because of this I think I’m going to wear it to fly to our holiday destination next week.

The nature of my work means I can wear sandals, but if it did need to be a little more formal, a pair of nude or tan mid heeled court shoes would be ideal.

My bee bracelet is the perfect fauna for this flora. It’s by Israeli brand Danon which I sell on my accessories website Lizzy O. If you sign up to my monthly blog newsletter, you’ll get an exclusive discount code which is valid for all items on there for two weeks after receipt. I send them out on 1st of each month, so just pop your details in the box in the right hand side bar beneath the collage of the jewellery. The silver angel wings drop earrings below are also by Danon at Lizzy O.

These bracelets are from Bella Jane Jewellery. Run by fellow mum and business woman Annabel Davies, this was one of the very first brands I collaborated with and I still wear the bracelets frequently, especially in hot weather because they’re lightweight and feel “barely there.”

And my bag. Well this bag is a bag for life, (read Michelle, RetroChicMama’s post about her shoes for life), saved up for and purchased during what now seems like a completely different life. This beautiful Mulberry bag sometimes feels like it’s an imposter because its fellow designer accessories went the same way as my large country home, my Land Rover and my wedding ring two and a half years ago. I’ve been tempted to sell it on several occasions because my new life is so different and I need nor want any mementos of the former. It’s simpler now, more real and infinitely happier. However, over the years this bag has worked hard for me and has earned its keep and I suspect it will end up being a bag for my daughter’s life too (as she hastily reminds me whenever I mention selling it!)